Monday, September 30. 2013

Here is a short review and tour of one of our tank cars, restored perhaps over 20 years ago.

Switch Move

Tank car? I don't see any tank car. Yet this often the first step in any work at IRM. US Army 8537 is lugging a string of cars out of Yard 14 so that the subject car can be pulled to a better location. A great example of how IRM works and how it preserves so many aspects of railroad history. This could have been a period photo from decades ago, in countless locations.

Left Side

The left side of the tank shows the DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE lettering on the silver tank car body with black trim. The car was used to haul heating oil and possibly other petroleum based cargoes to air bases and defense silos during the height of the cold war era. I will guess this would have carried heavy oil products, since the car is equipped with interior piping and heating coils to thin and liquify a heavy product.

Warning

There is lettering on the right side of the tank defining an AAR warning.

Dome

Here is the dome with it long string of lettering. You can see that decades of outdoor storage has resulted in the upper areas of the dome and tank suffering mightily from sun and weather.

Right Side

The right side of the tank has much lettering and info, most of it mandated by RULE for cars in interchange service.

Tank End

The end had the standard array of lettering containing the reporting marks, capacity, and other data.

COTS

For this era, of the restoration, a set of consolidated lube stencils were used.

As shown above the car has suffered from being stored outdoors, setting us up to doing another restoration of what was once COMPLETE. The car is on our short list to repaint and I expect it may yet see some significant 'wear and tear' in the coming weeks. If we are to repaint and letter it yet again, should not we work to store it indoors so the work will last? Yes this is the commercial asking for donations to fund R12661. Thanks in advance.

Monday, September 30. 2013

Here is a short tour of the LAKE CITY, a new IRM acquisition in 2012. Ace reporter and upholsterer, John McKelvey volunteered to show us what he has accomplished inside this last season. He trundled over to take the pics and his work speaks for itself.

Rear Platform

Unlike most IRM acquisitions the Lake City had seen decades of restoration work by a single individual in southern Wisconsin who made it his life passion. Here is the rear observation platform.

Observation End Interior

The interior of this car is nothing short of stunning with rich wood paneling and inlay. Imagine yourself sitting in this area with the other captains of industry, enjoying the views. John has re-done several of the chairs, and it is an ongoing project.

Pullman Sleeping

It harkens to the era that this car was built, as it has a Pullman open section sleeping! This is how it looks in the daytime, arranged for seating.

Mens Lounge

There is Men's Lounge and smoking area. This new bench seat is wide enough for three men to share, side by side. The rear cushion back for this seat is not yet done and in this picture.

Womens Lounge

Each of the lavatories had a lounge area with seating. This is the women's, with seating only wide enough for two of the ladies, side by side.

Next

The next chair is in the shop as John is applying more new upholstery. I said this was an ongoing process, and John shows no sign of letting up.

Calendar

Quicksearch

Comments

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 21:34Display first, operation later. It
needs to be watertight to be on
display with the streamliners in
yard 5, then we can start working
on putting the [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 19:04Hello David S We would love to
have the Silver Pony in operation.
At this time the coach dept does
not have enough volunteers and $ to
complete [...]

David S about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 15:39On display? No plans for it to ever
become operational? I know it
wouldn't exactly "fit in" with the
heavyweights, but I bet it would be
very popular [...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverSun, 03-15-2015 13:18We have 3 "modernized"
Heavyweights, IC 2804, GTW 5316,
and UP 501. UP 501 is used for the
Terror on the Railroad event, GTW
5316 needs some major [...]

Chris about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverFri, 03-13-2015 02:06It looks like IRM DOES have about
three streamliner era coaches.
Though two are modernized
heavyweights, and one is more of a
luxury chair car. [...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:20Ted,
The car started life as a near copy
of CB&Q 1923; our operational RPO
Baggage car. I have not managed to
find the number of the car it was
[...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:11Not a whole lot. Operational cars
take priority obviously. Hopefully
we'll have the materials we need to
get it on display within a year or
two.

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:04If we were to go after any
lightweight coaches, they would
either be junk or cost tens or
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Postwar lightweights [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 10:57Hello Ted, Our info from CB&Q
Hist Society confirms that the
"bag" was once an RPO and was
converted to a baggage car.
Please help the cause by [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 10:50Hi Dave, Regarding the Silver Pony
there are plans for future
installation of some windows but
nothing scheduled for the next six
months. We will be [...]